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Axl Low
'''Axl Low (アクセル=ロウ, Akuseru Rō) is a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' series. He is a time traveller of British descent. He comes from the 20th century, over one hundred and fifty years before most of the Guilty Gear storyline. His main goal is to return to his own time period, mainly because of his desire to return to his girlfriend, Megumi. For this reason, he seeks out various means, and is continually attempting to solve his time slipping mystery. Character Design Axl is always seen sporting a red bandana, a short blue vest, and black wrist guards. However, changes have been made to his design between the first Guilty Gear and the X series. In the first game, he is much more muscular. If one looks closely at his shoes, the pattern displayed on the Union Jack can be found. In the X series, he has a slimmer build. His shorts are replaced with jeans and the design of the Union Jack is transferred to his now-long sleeved shirt. Gallery [[Axl Low/Image Gallery|'Axl Low's Image Gallery']] Personality Despite his troubles, Axl retains an optimistic and amiable nature. While he enjoys flirting with other women (especially I-No), he still loves Megumi. He is also a staunch pacifist, who will refuse to take a life regardless of circumstances. Story Background Axl originally lived in the 20th century. During this period, he fell in love with a girl named Megumi. He grew up in the slums and eventually found himself in the middle of a gang war. Thanks to his strength, he was able to put an end to the conflict in six months (with no casualties). It was sometime after this victory when Axl was forced to go through his first time slip into the 22nd century. ''Guilty Gear'' Axl enters the Sacred Knights Tournament in hopes of finding a way to get back to his own era. He was apparently led to believe that the winner of the tournament could have a wish granted to them. ''Guilty Gear Xtra'' Axl is seen listening to an old hand-held radio, before Tyr and Mizuha appear in front of him because of Mizuha's ability to teleport to anything that gives off an electro-magnetic signal. Axl subsequenly befriends the duo and offers them assistence by buying Mizuha new clothes and treating them to lunch. He also tries to convince a skeptical Tyr that he is actually a time-traveler from the 20th century, who is only seems partially convinced. However, they are suddenly attacked by Geena, who sports a new Magi-tech cybernetic arm. Axl manages to subdue her until she uses her arm to blow apart a bell tower, which is about to land on a crying child looking for her mother during the chaos. Axl releases Geena and manages to rescue the child in time, but Geena uses this opportunity to shoot Axl from behind, leaving him wounded. Axl begins to Time Slip, but is relieved to know that Anji has arrived and will help his two new friends before he is sent hurtling through time once again. ''Guilty Gear X Plus'' In the second game, Axl is wandering about, looking for Faust, in hopes of being cured by a doctor of such skill. He encounters various people on the way, and fights them, chalking it all up to bad luck. Then he meets up with Sol Badguy. After this, the path splits. In one ending, Axl fights Kliff Undersn and Justice, and then realizes that he's been thrown back in time once again. In the other (more likely) ending, he battles Faust, and then is diagnosed with involuntary timeslipping. Faust blames this on there being an identical existence to Axl that occupies the same timeframe as himself. ''Guilty Gear XX'' Axl meets up with I-No, among other people, while wandering about. As is the case with many other characters, I-No is the catalyst that causes the events that follow. In the first ending, he meets up with That Man and finds out from him that Raven is the cause of his timeslipping, and it is implied that Raven is the other existence Axl that was diagnosed by Faust. In another, Axl fights with Zappa, and afterward begins to wonder how Megumi is faring. In his third ending, he ends up fighting a future version of himself; he also asks "himself" that if he can return to Megumi, but receives no answer. This allegedly has something to do with actions performed by Axl later on. Perhaps more light will be shed on this in later games. Interestingly, since the three endings have nothing to do with each other, and don't contradict each other in any way, it is entirely possible that they all happened. ''Guilty Gear XX Λccent Core Plus'' Axl first battles I-No. Depending on the method of victory, Axl may continue travelling, or he will once again be forced through time, during the first Sacred War, forced to battle Kliff Undersn, Order-Sol and even another version of himself. Eventually, Axl is confronted by Crow and a copy of Justice, Crow expressing intent to capture Axl. Here players can choose to have Axl flee the scene or stay and fight. If Axl picks the second choice, he slips through time again into a veritable warzone, running for his life from an army (Path 2). Picking the first option has Axl battle the Justice copy, only to slip through time again, this time to his own timeline. Jubilant, Axl sees Megumi and is about to greet her, only to be cruelly flung through time yet again. Axl then reacts with frustration as he tries to get Megumi's attention. (Path 1) ''Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-'' Axl finds himself tumbling through time once again. After a confrontation with I-No, he is informed that he carries a message that only That Man will understand. I-No takes him to That Man and Axl lets off a string of gibberish (represented in subtitles with PlayStation button symbols) that neither he nor I-No understand. However, That Man acknowledges his message. Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'' Axl decides to find I-No, hypothesizing that due to her own time travel powers that she can send him back to 1998 London. Jack-O' reveals to Axl that sending him back would be impossible because Axl, like I-No, is in fact an existence that shouldn't exist from a future that could have been. Depressed due to the unlikelihood of ever finding home, Axl contemplates what to do as he feels like anything he could do would be running away. I-No, shockingly, comforts him, reminiscing about her own past in which she used her powers to make people happy, but ultimately ending in any achievement being wiped clean. She tells Axl if he ever feels like joining her he's free to do so. In the climax of the Story Mode Axl uses his powers to stop time itself, allowing Sol to activate his Dragon Install in order to fuse Jack-O' and Aria at the cost of Axl never being able to go back to his own time. Gameplay Axl is Guilty Gear's resident zoning character. His gameplan revolves around keeping the opponent at bay, via his powerful anti-airs at all directions and ranges, some being able to reach more than half-way across the screen. Should they stick to the ground, Axl has a great keep-away ability in the form of Sickle Flash (Also known as Rensengeki), which can be used to kill projectiles, stopping running opponents, and can transition into two other options, either for anti-air or a more damaging option. He also has a fully invinicible DP to get characters off of him. His weakness, however, is his lack of pressure and offensive momentum, not being able to deal a ton of damage from mix-ups, unlike Sol or Leo. Some of his moves also extend his hurtbox, making it bad to whiff them. But, if played correctly, Axl can easily punish any character. Command List Axl Low's Command List}} Powers & Abilities Axl was gifted since birth with superhuman prowess that exceeds most normal humans. It is said that his natural reflexes and acuity, combined with his kusari-gama, render even bullets useless against him. He is also one of the few humans in the twenty-first century to use magic innately, despite the fact that Magic in his time had yet to be studied. He uses a brand of Fire Magic that is unique to him known as "Thief's Flame". He also possesses the unique ability to transport to different periods of time, including alternate timelines, seemingly through his own subconscious will. However, he previously lacked the ability to properly control this power and it has consequently rendered him ageless. However, as of Revelator, he has learned to slowly master his power, discovering that the level of power he currently possesses can alter the very state of this world as he sees fit, though it is primarily based in the flow of time itself. He can even compress time on a global scale, as shown when he used his ability to save Sol and Jack-O by slowing the world to a crawl. He also discovers that he can enter different planes of reality by his own will, such as how he materializes in I-No's Integrated Point by simply wishing to be "nowhere" and when he entered Bedman's dream realm (whose world can only be accessed at 6:06 AM or PM of any given day). This technique manifests symbolically as grandfather clocks that allow Axl to enter/exit. Musical Themes *'March of the Wicked King''' - Guilty Gear *'Make Oneself' - Guilty Gear X *'Dogs On the Run' - Guilty Gear XX #Reload Korean OST *'Drunkard Does Make Wise Remarks' - Guilty Gear Isuka * A Slow Walker - Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-'' Character Quotes ''See: [[Axl Low/Quotes|'Axl Low Quotes']] References and Allusions *Axl owes his name and look to Guns'n'Roses' lead singer, whose stage name is Axl Rose. Even more, it is said they have a similar outlook, and both of them are sort of playboys (Rose once said something like that: "It is a really bad thing to put your girlfriend or your wife into your music video, because when you break up - and you will - they will still be in your video"). Considering Axl's friendship with Sol, Axl Rose is also known to be a big fan of Queen and starred at The Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert in London 1992, whom he honors as a major influence to the band's music and his style. *The second half of Axl's name may originate from the band Testament's album named "Low". *Axl's Guilty Gear theme - "March of the Wicked King" - is named suspiciously similar to "March of the Black Queen" (by Queen), and sounds suspiciously similar to "You're Crazy" by Guns'n'Roses. *Axl's GGX\GGXX theme - "Make Oneself" - could be an allusion to Incubus' album "Make Yourself". *At Axl's GGX\GGXX background (London) there is a word "Napalm" written on the wall. It could be yet another allusion to the English band named Napalm Death. *The english vocal version of "Make Oneself" sounds almost exactly like the song "Even Flow" by the band Pearl Jam in the way the lyrics are sung. Trivia *It is unclear how Raven and Axl are connected save for their similar ability to control time and their agelessness, though Daisuke Ishiwatari has dismissed the notion that they are the same person given Raven's backstory, but he retains that they do share a connection to one another. It also hinted by That Man and Raven in Guilty Gear XX: Midnight Carnival how Axl performs an action in the future that links his existence with Raven's. Axl's power over time is also intertwined with I-No's, though the reason is similarly unclear. *In the official relationship chart, it is stated that Axl knows I-No from the past, and that he has a gang. *In his third ending in Guilty Gear XX, he will accidentally go back in time to fight with I-No and Sol Badguy again. If Axl cannot finish Sol Badguy using his Instant Kill, the match will be rewinded forever. *Axl shares the same birthday as Dizzy and Elphelt. *Axl, as a character, might be a reference to the British TV show Dr. Who, in which a seemingly normal Police Box is used to travel through time and space. *Axl's theme in Guilty Gear XRD, A Slow Waker, contains a few nods to his original theme from the original Guilty Gear, March of The Wicked King. *When Axl performs his Overdrive, Hyakue Renshou, inside the circle his Kusari-gama creates, for a split-second the image of a woman playing a guitar can be seen. This image can also be seen when Axl performs his Benten Gari/'Axl Bomber' combination. This woman is known as Benten, a Japanese deity of arts and wisdom not unlike Athena. *Axl's American voice actor also voices Johnny. He also voiced Ky in Guilty Gear 2: Overture. External Links *Gameplay Guides from Dustloop Forums **General Strategy and Tactics **Combos **Lockdown and Pressure *Mizuumi's GG Wiki - Axl Low References ... Navigation Category:Featured Articles Category:Guilty Gear Characters Category:Humans Category:Males Category:Time Travelers Category:Playable Characters Category:Guilty Gear Xrd Characters Category:Heroes